Some Things Are Genetic
by Lonely in the basement
Summary: Your DNA defines many aspects of your life. It defines how well you build muscle, how well you learn math, your skin color, etc. It can also hinder you, keeping you from being succeeding. Some wish to fix this, but not for the right reasons. A/N Mostly speedster centric. But will have other characters as a focus as well.
1. Fire

Wally's day was like any other since Artemis' supposed "death". He woke up to his annoying alarm clock, still tired from not getting enough sleep from the night before. Still half asleep he went to take a shower and grabbed a quick sandwich for breakfast and take his medicine with some orange juice before heading out to class. Thursday's were his short days and he was out of his only class by 10 am.

Since it was his short day Wally spent about an hour and a half working on his homework before heading over to the cafeteria and getting several orders of chicken fingers and fries. At first he thought that was a good amount, but he ended up stopping and grabbing a few tins of sushi and heading out.

He walked for fifteen minutes before sitting down on a bench in a park, setting down his food next to him on the ground. He waited a few minutes, just sitting there while playing on his iPhone, until a young girl carrying a bag sat down next to him on the bench.

"My mom packed ten different types of sandwiches." She said as she emptied the bag of the many different types of sandwiches while Wally set down his collection next to it. "I'll trade you four sandwiches for three things of chicken strips and fries."

"Why don't you just take four?" He asked, opening up a turkey and swiss sandwich with mayo.

"Because I have track today and my track coach says I should eat light so I'm lighter on my feet." She shrugged her shoulders, fully believing that her coach was full of it but took only three of the packages of chicken strips and started in on one.

They sat in relative silence for a while, quickly eating their food peacefully. One might wonder where Wally found such a young friend, but the story was simple. The girl's name was Jessie Chambers, and her family lived next to Artemis and Wally since the two moved in. At first the two groups only made simple pleasentries when they passed each other in the hallways. That changed when Jessie found out that Wally was Kid Flash when he accidentally left his boots on when coming home.

At first it was awkward. She was a Flash fan and kept asking him questions whenever she passed him by. But eventually it became less creepy and more cute, she was young yet very good at keeping a secret. She was kind of like a puppy in a strange way, and when they quit she did ask why but didn't seem judgemental about it like the rest of the people he knew.

"So… she's dead?" She asked with a mouthful of fries. Jessie was one of the only people Wally could handle a constant stream of questions from. Even repeated ones.

"You keep asking that question and yet my answer's still the same." He hoped it wouldn't continue to have to be. But right now he had no choice but to lie.

"I just can't believe it you know? There wasn't a body or anything, just a funeral."

"Nothing's changed so far. She's gone."

She hung her head. "It sucks. I don't like it." She shoveled the last of her food into her mouth.

"I don't like it either kid." He was behind her in eating, but she had to be to class in about ten minutes and she had to run back.

Jessie stood up and grabbed her backpack and crammed the last of the sandwiches into it. "By the way, my mom wants to invite you to dinner again tonight. She's determined."

He snorted, "Tell her thanks but I've got a project I need to work on."

She waved as she ran off, "I'll tell her!"

Afterwards Wally did his shift at the coffee shop where he worked at before walking back to his apartment. He did a little bit of studying then went to the kitchen and made a huge batch of spaghetti and meatballs. When that was finished he slipped outside with a fork and sat with the pot on the ground only moving when Jessie appeared again this time carrying a big casserole dish.

"Home made mac n cheese." She says, pulling out her fork from her pocket.

"Spaghetti and Meatballs." He says, sticking his fork into the mac and cheese without asking. They had a system going and he wasn't going to change it just because onlookers would think it was polite. In turn Jessie stuck her fork into a meatball and shoved it into her mouth.

This was a normal day for Wally. Even when Artemis was around he'd have lunch and an after dinner meal with Jessie. Just now that she was gone those meals became like a sort of sanctuary, they kept him from going crazy. Jessie was like a gust of cool air on a hot day, reminding him that the intense heat of summer was only for a little while.

"You know what I feel like after this? Some cookies." She said with some mac and cheese in her mouth.

"Is that so?" He twisted some spaghetti onto his fork and pushed it into his mouth.

"Yeah, you should get some. I have five dollars." She reached down to pull out her wallet.

"Nah. I got it. I still owe you for bringing Chinese food last week."

"Sweet!" She pumped her fist and grabbed another spoonful of spaghetti.

They ate in silence for a long while before she spoke again.

"Hey, are you ever going to be Kid Flash again?"

He paused, "Two heavy questions in one day, new record kid." He shrugged. "Probably never again. To be a hero, kid, you normally die in the suit. I mean, they do good things and everything, but I don't know if I could do that to people."

She nods, "But you'd make a great hero."

"Che. yeah right. I'm too slow. You'd probably be able to outrun me soon."

She pouted, "I bet I can. I've almost figured out the formula!"

He snorted, "Well if you manage to figure out then why don't you be Kid Flash?"

She stuck her tongue out, "Fine, I will! And I'll be the most awesome Kid Flash ever."

"Yeah, yeah." He stood up and stretched out his arms a bit. "I'm going to go get those cookies, I'll be back in about twenty minutes. If I'm not then I'm probably dead." He joked.

"Be back in a flash!" She yelled at him as he descended the steps.

"Ha punny!" He yelled over his shoulders as he waved and walked away. They had developed a sort of back and forth that Wally had come to rely on, and he was thankful she was always there to bring up his mood.

Wally walked to the closes CBS and bought a package of the cookies from the deli, they were about to close so he got a mixed dozen for a couple of bucks and a coffee just for the hell of it. Caffeine never stayed in his system for long, but he did enjoy the bump it gave him for a few minutes.

He leisurely walked down the street, burning off a couple of calories to make room for the mac and cheese. Jessie was probably going to be full soon, she had one hell of a metabolism but not speedster level, and her mom would probably be glad that she didn't have to put it into the fridge in tuperwear containers that she hated to clean.

At first the walk seemed pleasant since the air was cooling from the heat of the day, but then Wally began to smell smoke. It was possible that the smoke was from a neighborhood BBQ or something similar, but it smelled too gritty and ashy to be that. Against his better judgment he followed his nose like the good speedster he was and braced himself. He was a few blocks away before he realized that the house was burning, and only a block away before he realized how bad it was.

Wally didn't know what caused the fire to start, he didn't ask anyone, and he was no expert on how fires exactly worked and how fast they could sprout up in a home. But there were many people out on the street watching it, a few even on their phones, so he thought that everything would be taken care of.

Then he heard a girl yell about her grandmother who was apparently still in the building. The fire fighters weren't there and Wally didn't know the woman's age, sure could be anywhere from fifty to one hundred for all he knew. So, he did what any retired hero would do. The cookies in his hand were dumped into a teenaged boy's arms with instructions on giving them to a blonde girl named Jessie if he didn't come back, and he ran into the building without a second thought.

The heat blindsided him, the interior already charred and nearly crumbling. He looked around, feeling heart race as he frantically searched for anyone still inside. All it took was a few minutes for a person to die in a fire and he knew that every second was one he had to use productively.

He cleared the bottom story so he ran up the stairs to the next level of the house. If he was in his right mind he'd think of it like a video game, but his heart was beating even faster and he just wanted to get the woman out of the house before something bad happened.

Level two was ok, so he traveled up to the third level where he finally found the person he was looking for. She was an elderly woman, but had a limberness to her that let everyone know she hadn't exactly slowed down yet. Her arm was caught under some wood, probably broken on top of being burned, thus hindering her from getting out.

Wally managed to help pry her arm from under the wood, but it would definitely need to be reset and bandaged up tight for it to heal properly. He slung her good arm over his shoulder and starting making his way down the stairs.

That's when it hit him. The pain in his racing heart, the nausea, the dizziness. It had only happened to him twice, but the feeling was so blatant and obvious that he had no doubts as to what it was.

The woman was able bodied enough to get out from the second story, and so he instructed her to run and she did it without hesitation. Wally managed to stay standing long enough for her to disappear down the steps before collapsing on the hot ground. The pain in his chest was overwhelming, and it felt like his heart was speeding up. He felt sick as the pain spread through his arms and legs.

And just when he didn't think he could handle it anymore, the pain and the burning becoming too intense to handle, he passed out.

The building burned for a solid ten minutes before the firefighters appeared, by then they were two late. They arrived just in time to drag him out, but by then his body was blackened and charred almost beyond recognition.

It was twenty minutes later when Jessie happened upon the scene. She had left to look for her lost friend and came across the fire when the firefighters pulled the body out as the young boy gave her the bag of cookies.

She was the only one around who could identify the body.

A/N I barely know what I'm doing with this. Let's just roll with it shall we?


	2. Calls

When Nightwing got the call he could hardly believe it. There was always a thing about death, it never seemed real until you saw the body, and he was too far away to see it anyway.

"I have a few other numbers on the emergency contact list. Would you like me to call them?"

"…. No. I'll do it. Thank you though."

"Alright. God bless."

The woman hung up, leaving the buzz of the dial tone in Dick's ear. He felt himself grow sicker, but he knew he wouldn't be able to throw up or even eat to get rid of it. This was probably the worst thing that could happen. Wally was a big influence on everyone, not just Dick. Up until his retirement Wally was the kid to go talk to and train with, despite his busy schedule he was always eager to hang out and lend a hand.

Now they were telling Nightwing that Wally got himself killed. But it wasn't from the fire. Apparently he had scarring on his heart, probably a cardiac arrest. And the only reason they could think as to why a 21-year-old male who ran everyday would die from a heart attack is from a form of illegal substance abuse, but they didn't find any in his system. But Dick knew that it was fairly possible that Wally burned it off long before entering the house.

Dick didn't want to believe it, but it did add up. Wally's sudden snappish mood and withdrawal from hero work could be because of a new found drug habit, and his metabolism requiring more of the stuff then anyone else. Like it or not Dick did have to admit it was a possibility, and kick himself for not seeing it.

In all honesty he didn't want to believe it. So he booked it to California that Friday night to do a little research. At the morgue they had his body all prepped and ready for a funeral. They'd have to do a closed casket though due to the poor condition of the body and Dick felt it was for the best. He scheduled for a small funeral for the next week, and by small he meant him and whatever local friends Wally had in that town to come.

The next stop was Wally and Artemis' apartment. He had to figure out what stuff to pack away, and arrange to have the rent paid so the apartment was kept for Artemis' return. Though he didn't imagine she'd want to stick around long after finding out.

When he made his way to the room, with a spare key given to him by a now sad landlady, he found a girl in the room. She had blonde hair and a tear stricken face, but she wasn't crying in that instance. Instead she sat on the couch with Wally's dog and watched T.V with no sound on. When she noticed him there she jumped up and stared at him.

"Who're you! What're you doing here?" She tried to sound brave, but she was obviously too broken up and too small to do much damage.

"Uh." He started. "I'm a friend of Wally's. Name's Richard, but everyone just calls me Dick." He held out a hand for her to shake but she just stared at it instead.

"Oh. You're Dick." She sniffed. "I'm sorry. I just. I'm a little weird right now."

"It's fine." To be honest, he understood. She seemed close to Wally. Hell she even had a key to his apartment.

"I'm Jessie. I was just watching Good Eats. He and I used to watch it together when my parents ask him to babysit me." She sniffed again and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

He closed the door. "No it's fine. I was just coming up to pack up and other stuff." He paused for a moment, "The funeral's going to be next week. Closed casket at the Alta Mesa Park. But we're not going to bury him just yet. None of his family will be there."

She blew her nose into a tissue, "But. Why not? They should be!"

He paused and crouched down to look her in the eye and put his hands on her shoulders, "Because we can't afford to tell his family about him right now. You don't know what type of danger they're going to be in, they have to stay focused. When it all settles down we'll have a proper burial with all of his family and friends there. But right now, it's going to be between you, me, and all of his friends."

She teared up and sniffed some more before resting her head on his shoulder to cry. Her tears and snot soaked his T-shirt, but he didn't really care. Instead he held her close and hoped she'd stop crying soon. Her entire presence was seeping into his already dismal mood and making it worse, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it.

About a half an hour later Dick walked Jessie back to her apartment and went back to Wally's to get to work. He starts off in Wally's room and finds Wally's Kid Flash uniform in a box at the bottom of his closet, it was practically brand new because Wally had only worn it a few times after retiring. Also in Wally's room were his important belongings like his goggles and his textbooks.

It was kind of funny though. Dick knew that Wally and Artemis had some cash stashed away in their apartment in case they couldn't use their credit cards. He never expect for that cash to be stashed in the freezer of all places. Course it'd be the last place robbers would look and if the apartment burned down it wouldn't go up in smoke. But, as is always the case with Wally, one had to wonder if his actions were motivated by logic or his insatiable love of food.

He took it out to count and inspect it, he was paranoid and knew how easy it was to get fake money. As he thumbed through the money he heard the distinctive sound of "Coffee Song" by Frank Sinatra, Wally's favorite singer, fill up the apartment. He looked up from his counting to rake his eyes over the apartment, coming across the lite up phone on the table. Before he could answer it, it clicked to voice-mail and Bart's voice came on loud and clear.

_"So hey cuz, haven't seen you in a few days. Just calling to say hi and I want to see if you're available to maybe hang out next weekend. Call me back. Or I might call you back. Whatever."_

The beep signaled the end of that message, and Dick had to pause before resuming his chores. He gathered up the money, suits, textbooks, and goggles in a large bag, then pauses before taking the phone and its charger with him.

When he got back home he headed down to The Cave and put all of the stuff into storage. It was all the most essential items that either couldn't fall into a thief's hands, or couldn't be stumbled upon by anyone. Then he went back upstairs to his room and plugged the phone into his wall to charge. It lite up again, showing that there was a voicemail that wasn't heard.

Then he left it there so he could take care of Team business. He'd tell everyone when this mess was over with.


	3. Confessing

It had been a few months since Wally's death and Dick still hadn't told anyone. He suspected Bruce may have an idea that something happened, maybe even Barbara, but that's about it. Of all the things he learned growing up he learned how to put on a brave face, how to trick even the closest of his friends if need be. This wasn't something he liked to do, but now it was necessary.

Wally was close to everyone. He was close to the freshmen and many members of the League. Of course, Wally probably didn't even know half of it. But when you were the comic relief of the entire team then you won yourself some friends. Their job was hard, and having a nice guy who joked around, even when he was flirting with you, made it easier. After girls determined that he simply talked just to say something nice they often took his flirting as less a come on and more a means to start a light conversation. Even some people in the League enjoyed his company, and it was likely that he would've gotten an invitation into the League with everyone else.

But now he was gone, Artemis was behind enemy lines with Kaldur, Barry and Bart were getting closer, and everyone else was busy. Thought Bart's persistent calling was getting on Dick's nerves. Just out of nowhere he'd be doing his homework in his room and the phone would buzz and Bart would leave yet another message. He was persistent despite Wally not returning the calls, Bart even sounded chipper in the messages despite Dick knowing the contrary when he talked to him. Bart was worried, and wanted to get to know his cousin, but his cousin wasn't there to answer.

All that left was for Dick to move forward and prepare for the day when he'd have to tell everyone. He went to the memorial service with Jessie and her parents, but since Jessie wasn't familiar with any of Wally's school and work friends they were the only people there. Dick knew that it was probably horrible, but he couldn't bring himself to look up anyone else for the service. But the body was lowered into the ground and it was bad enough that Wally's family and hero friends couldn't be there. Everyone would be invited when he had the chance to tell them all at once.

So he lived his life, the conflict building up between the world and the invaders as well as the light. The final fight was upon them and he wanted to make it out alive to tell everyone, that was his goal.

And he completed his goal. Despite the broken bones and the swollen limbs, his nose broken and blood in his left eye. Out of all of it they had no casualties, but a lot of losses despite of this. La'gaan was unlikely to walk again, and Bart was in surgery for the gunshot wound to his knee. The rest of the team and their various allies were nursing their injuries while the League had just gotten back from their trial in Ra'an.

It was in this setting where Dick sat down next to Artemis. She was holding down a bandage to the large cut on her thigh and the rest of her body was litter with cuts and bruises. The worst was probably her smashed left arm, making it unclear how well she'd be able to use her bow after this was all over.

"Listen. Artemis." He really didn't know how to start with this. He had gone over the conversation in his head many times but even that hadn't prepared him. "There's…. something I -uh- have to tell you."

She looked up to him, looking tired and hurt but in the physical sense. This would kill him but he had to do it.

"Wally died. When you were gone."

He said it quickly, like a bandage you ripped off because then the pain would be over quicker. But there was a thing about the news of death that made it so that no matter how fast you said it, no matter how quickly the words left your mouth, the pain didn't leave any quicker or the sting diminish any faster.

Dick didn't know how Artemis would take the news. He didn't know much the mission had changed her outlook or how the girl would respond to the death of someone so close to her heart.

She paused and stared at him, studying his face with an intense scrutiny for any sort of hesitation on his face. If there were a chance that he wasn't sure or didn't know, just a small chance, she'd cling to it with all her might. But he was certain and she could read that, and slowly her lip began to tremble and her eyes began to mist up.

"He's dead? H-how?" She stuttered as she tried to keep the tears from falling, but failed utterly when they began to pool and drip down to her cheeks.

He took a deep breath and whispered, "Fire. He went in to save someone. Didn't get out in time."

She turned away as the tears fell faster, but she was silent as the facts processed. Artemis knew how to keep quiet no matter how much pain she was in, weather physically or mentally. Her eyes fixed on the wall in front of her, analyzing the colored metal that made up the interior of the cave.

"I need-" She paused to choke down a sob, "I need to be alone. Right now."

Dick understood, she probably wanted the chance to really process and vent. He rubbed her back as she stumbled up to a standing position and left, hurrying to the zetas while everyone else was distracted.

He had told Artemis, now all he had left was to tell the speedster family. This was going to be difficult.

The next week, when everyone was more or less home and recovering, he made his way to Central City. All of Wally's family lived in that area, well… the ones that were alive lived there. Wally's parents were dead, Wally's mother due to breast cancer while Wally's father followed shortly after due to a heart attack.

He went down the list of people he should tell. Jay and Joan were possibilities, but Dick didn't know them all that well and felt that they should hear it from a person who was more close to them. That left the Allen's as the people to tell. But Iris was very pregnant and might do better finding out from Barry. Dick didn't know Bart that well either, so that left Barry to tell first and decide from there.

It was around noon when he got there, hoping that having lunch with the news would soften the blow just a tad. Dick slipped into the building right before Barry went on break and offered to pay to have lunch with him. Of course Barry was a little confused by the invitation, but he was also a speedster and speedsters did not pass up the offer of free food.

They walked in silence to a nearby Italian place where they took a seat outside. It was a beautiful day objectively speaking, but Dick had a feeling that it wouldn't look very beautiful to either of them soon enough. He sat back as Barry grabbed the basket of bread and began asking a few questions. Mostly about why Dick was here, what did he want to talk about, if he wanted to join the League or talk about Batman?

Dick let him ramble, occasionally injecting something into the conversation. Barry may have been talking more because he felt that something was off, and considering the hell that went down just a week prior Barry's paranoia was reasonable. It also served as helping Dick stall and think until their food arrived.

Quickly Barry's lasagna and Dick's vegetarian alfredo came and Dick knew he had to spill the beans. Barry ate fast; snatching up his fork to dig in the second the plate hit the table. If nerves made a person hungry then it was doubly so for speedsters.

Barry dipped a slice of bread into the sauce that pooled at the bottom of the bowl as Dick felt his courage build high enough for him to say it.

"Wally's dead." He blurted, and Barry stopped eating entirely. Barry and Bart could both process information faster then most humans, so his head quickly snapped up to look Dick in the face in an eerie reminder of Artemis.

"What? How?" He sputtered incoherently for a few seconds before Dick cut him off.

"It was a fire and a heart attack. He went in to save someone and couldn't come out." He reached over to fiddle with his fork, "The coroner suspected substance abuse since it was a cardiac arrest at so young, but there was nothing in his system to prove anything so they left it unknown."

Barry put the bread down slowly, "When did it happen?"

"… A few months ago."

"A few months ago! A few months! You didn't tell us?" Barry snapped. It seemed that Barry skipped over denial and went straight to anger.

Dick flinched, "I know. But there was a lot going on. I didn't want anyone to get distracted." He felt his stomach clench, Barry's reaction was to be expected. But he did hope that Barry would be a bit more… calmer?

"But that's Wally! How could you just lie to us like that?" By this time Barry was drawing some attention to the two, but he didn't seem to care.

"I did what I had to do." He whispered. No matter how bad he felt he knew it was for the best. He knew it.

"Yeah, whatever." Barry stood up and shoved his chair in then grabbed his coat, "Thanks for the grub." He said as he stomped out of the establishment.

Dick called for the check and got all of the leftovers boxed up for Nelson. It was likely that Barry would inform the rest of the family of the funeral, and after that the news would quickly spread.

With a bag full of treats Nightwing stood up and left, he had a second funeral to plan.

A/N: Some of your guy's reviews are interesting, some of the theories are believable. And some of you are in the ballpark of what I'm planning. It's actually quite entertaining how close or far some of you are. xD


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